Feb 14, 2017; Laramie, WY, USA; Colorado State Rams head coach Larry Eustachy reacts against the Wyoming Cowboys during the second half at Arena-Auditorium. The Rams beat the Cowboys 78-73. Mandatory Credit: Troy Babbitt-Imagn Images
Randy Peterson
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January 02, 2025
Random New Year’s Day (and day-after) thoughts, while awaiting another round of Let’s Blame the College Football Selection Committee for Everything.
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Whatever happened to the nets Iowa State scorched that March 2000 night at Baylor, where Larry Eustachy’sMarcus Fizer-led team won the school’s first outright men’s hoops title since 1945? What I remember from covering that game in Waco, was that some members of the team’s travel party wanted to celebrate by cutting down the nets, which can be a bit awkward when the opponent owns said nets.
Common sense prevailed, I recently recalled. The nets remained, and just why this bit of nostalgia, 25 years after Cyclones men’s basketball biggest moment in a long, long, long time, significant?
Saturday, Iowa State is recognizing its 1999-00 and 2000-01 teams during the 1 p.m., home game against, ahem, Baylor, that’s why. And why against Scott Drew’s team, which didn’t have anything to do with preventing Cyclones from cutting down Baylor nets on that night in which Fizer scored 34 points in leading the team to a 75-54 victory?
Because it fit on the calendar. The game is a sellout. Students are gone, allowing a different set of fans to purchase usually hard-to-buy tickets. A Top 25 marquee game for CBS-TV? Looks like it to me, the third-ranked Cyclones against the No. 25 Bears.
Interesting, though, is that the 1999-00 team that lost a controversial Elite Eight game against Michigan State – in Auburn Hills, Michigan – is generally considered Iowa State’s best men’s team. The 32-5 outfit that went 14-2 in the Big 12 featured not only Fizer, the fourth pick (by the Bulls) in the 2000 NBA Draft, but also 2001 first-round pick Jamaal Tinsley, and Paul Shirley, Kantrail Horton, Michael Nurse and Stevie Johnson, among others.
How cool would it be if Baylor presented Iowa State a net before Saturday’s game? Very, but that’s got about as much a chance of happening, as the Saturday afternoon temp reaching the 80s – and that’s not 80 below zero.
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Surprised that West Virginia’s victory at Kansas on New Year’s Eve was the Mountaineers’ first ever win at the museum also known as Allen Fieldhouse? Me, too.
You’re telling me that Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins never won there? That’s right. I looked it up. He’s been ejected from more games at Kansas (one) than he won (0-fo-10). Aplington native and former Drake coach Darian DeVries, meanwhile is 1-0 against Bill Self on his home floor, after Saturday’s 62-61 win.
His Mountaineers won, despite:
Regardless, the Mountaineers handed Kansas its first conference-opening loss since a 1991 defeat at Oklahoma.
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Surprised that former Iowa football player and now Illinois’ very good coach Bret Bielema taunted the South Carolina sidelines during the Citrus Bowl?
Don’t be. He’s done it before.
The most recent was when Bielema accused South Carolina and coach Shane Beamer of something unethical (albeit legal) during a kickoff return. He even hollered at the Gamecocks’ sidelines, while checking on one of his own injured players.
Surprised that a coach would do that?
You don’t know Bielema.
In 1992, Iowa State coach Jim Walden and Iowa coach Hayden Fry were doing their postgame handshake after the Hawkeyes beat the Cyclones in Iowa City. Reporters surrounded the coaches, seeking something off-beat from two very colorful guys. They got it, when Bielema, after playing his final Cy-Hawk game, told Walden:
"You're a big prick. I enjoyed kicking your ass for five years.”